Attorney: Remarks can’t hurt ex-officer

Officials’ silence urged in LR case

Robert Newcomb, lawyer for fired Little Rock police officer Charles Starks, said Monday that public comments by City Director Ken Richardson last week “aren’t going to make that much difference” in whether the city has handled Starks’ termination and ongoing appeal fairly.

“The damage has already been done,” Newcomb said.

He pointed to testimony Thursday to the Little Rock Civil Service Commission by two assistant police chiefs, who said Mayor Frank Scott Jr. pushed the department to investigate Starks quickly and fire him.

“Ken Richardson popping off isn’t going to make much difference,” Newcomb said.

Fairness questions surrounding any public comments by Little Rock elected officials about the Starks hearing were the subject of a memo on Friday from City Attorney Tom Carpenter to the mayor and the city’s 10 directors.

Carpenter asked those officials “in the strongest possible terms” to refrain from talking about the Starks hearing because those same officials have

a say in appointing the city’s Civil Service Commission members.

There is a risk of “undue influence” when higher-ups make comments “about evidentiary decisions, the reliability of testimony, the credibility of witnesses, or the appropriateness of a decision,” Carpenter’s email said.

Military operations call it “improper ‘command influence’” that cannot be tolerated, Carpenter wrote.

The Little Rock Civil Service Commission, which Carpenter called a “quasi-judicial” body, will make the decision in Starks’ appeal of his termination.

Carpenter’s emailed memo was dated 2:35 p.m. Friday — too late to silence Richardson, the city director from Ward 2.

Richardson said on Monday that he was interviewed Friday, a few hours before Carpenter sent the memo, by a KARK-TV reporter, Mitch McCoy.

The station’s online article quotes Richardson as saying he didn’t believe sworn testimony during Thursday’s hearing by the two assistant police chiefs, Hayward Finks and Alice Fulk.

Both testified, according to news reports, that Scott pressured them to quickly investigate and fire Starks after the officer’s involvement in an on-duty shooting that killed motorist Bradley Blackshire.

On Feb. 22, Starks fired his weapon 15 times at a moving vehicle driven by the 30-yearold Blackshire during a traffic stop. Starks was struck by the slow-moving vehicle and injured his knee, according to official reports.

Starks was fired April 19 after being cleared of criminal charges.

On Monday, Richardson denied saying he disbelieved Finks’ and Fulk’s testimonies to the Civil Service Commission.

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe them. I wasn’t there. I didn’t hear it,” he said.

“I don’t believe the mayor had any involvement in the firing. I could be wrong because I don’t have information on the internal workings of it. If he did, that’s beyond the scope of what he’s supposed to do as mayor,” Richardson said.

McCoy and KARK-TV news director Ernie Paulson could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Richardson said that a few hours after speaking to the TV station on Friday, he saw Carpenter’s emailed memo and called to tell the city attorney that he’d already been interviewed.

After seeing the televised report later Friday, Richardson said, he called Finks and Fulk to explain and apologize.

Richardson said he thought Carpenter’s memo to city directors asking them not to comment was appropriate.

“I don’t want anything I say or do to have any influence in what is going on” in the Civil Service Commission hearing, he said Monday.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette couldn’t reach Scott, the nine other Little Rock city directors or Carpenter for comment, despite calls and emails Monday.

The Starks hearing, which was supposed to continue Friday, was suspended indefinitely after Newcomb fell on the front steps of City Hall on Thursday and broke his wrist. He’s expected to undergo surgery today.